Crescentia cujete L. (Bignoniaceae)

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Guadamuz, A., Masís, A, Espinoza, R., Perez, D. and Chavarría, F. 1998. Crescentia cujete (Bignoniaceae) Species Page, May 13, 1998. Species Home Pages, Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica. http://www.acguanacaste.ac.cr

Tree up to 10 m tall.

Flower:

Fruit:

Hard, large, and round up to 30 cm in diameter (García 1998).

Immature fruit

Leaves:

Simple leaves, approximately 15 cm long.

Simple leaves

Bark and wood:

Whole plant architecture:

The crown is open.

View of the branching

Similar species:

Crescentia alata, but it has smaller fruit and distinctively trifoliate leaves.

Verification:

II. Geographic distribution:

International:

In Costa Rica:

In tropical wet lowland forests and submontane tropical forest.

In the Area de Conservación Guanacaste:

In the tropical wet lowland forests and tropical submontane forest.

Map of macro-habitats of the ACG

III. Natural History:

IV. How to find:

This is an introduced species and it can be found near houses. There are some individuals near Argelia station in Playa Naranjo, in the San Emilio forest and on the hill of El Hacha near the abandoned houses.

Acknowledgements.

This project was carried out by the Area de Conservación Guanacaste/CR, with help from INBio/CR, ICBG from the Foggarty center, NIH/USA and NSF/USA.

Thanks to Kate Beattie for helping with the image management and the translation of this species page.

Literature cited:

García, D. 1998. Programa Investigación, Area de Conservación Guanacaste. Com. Pers.